Some years ago I was a Housemaster in a large UK private school and for fun bought a big inflatable Santa to be the House mascot during the Christmas term. He would be tethered to the grass outside on the lawn jiggling about in the breeze rather like an incompetent disco dancer.

On the last day of term we had a routine informal chapel service with carols, everyone was happy and relaxed so I conspired with the Chaplain the previous evening (an Irishman with a sense of humour as bizarre as mine) to have a bit of fun. We took the deflated Santa and carefully arranged him in the pulpit, folding him precisely as you might a parachute.

The Service progressed normally then as the final carol began I threw the switch on the inflator fan. At first I thought we had a failure on our hands but then one huge arm flopped over the top of the pulpit, followed shortly after by the second, then a huge head began to emerge. The singing was punctuated with giggles but to the kids' great credit they kept going. Finally Santa rose to his full height erect and proud. It was a riot, I retired the following year ... no connection, honest!